I just got home from a very quick visit to Ontario! It was so much fun to see my family and to surprise my mom on her 60th birthday! My sister had arranged to take her out for lunch and so I made sure to get there before she did. When she came up to the table I jumped out from behind my brother to surprise her and she started crying. It’s always such fun to pull something like that off, whew!!

Congratulations on publishing your book. Homemakers everywhere (whether they have outside jobs or not) need and want help – as is obvious with the popularity here on your site. Thanks so much for hosting Menu Plan Mondays!

Our favorite was definitely Enchilasagna Casserole (redubbed Enchilada Casserole, it is easier to say!) I made it for the first time last week and it was SO easy. I need to get the exact recipe I used up on my website, but it was almost identical to this: http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/article/140/18107 (BTW, the nutrition information on this is incorrect, it is almost double that… but still less than 450 calories for 1/8 of the pan).

Our favorite meal from last week was the one we cooked from my grandmother’s cookbook (Meat Souffle, Creamed Potatoes and Cooked Carrots). Knowing that my mother may have eaten the very same meal as a child, cooked by my grandmother was nostalgic. To my surprise, the kids/husband had just as much fun with it as I did! :)

You have accomplished something from my ‘bucket list’ writing a book! Who knows if I will ever get it marked off, but coo-doose to you! We had the stomach bug here last week, everyone did well on homemade whole wheat toast :) Have a great day!

Congratulations Laura. Last Saturday was my favorite meal (it’s in this week’s menu); what made it so great was the fact that while I made the main dish and brought it to a friends place–another friend made Cesar salad, another made desert (chocolate loaf) and a third made the bread. It combined to be the best meal ever.

Wow! Looks like you have a whirlwind going on in your life right now…a cool and exciting whirlwind, to be sure! Good luck with the book!

My favorite recipe this past week? Probably the sausage rolls I made yesterday. Stromboli was originally on the menu, but I didn’t get to the store for the lunchmeat, so I changed to sausage rolls because I had plenty of sausage. Sausage rolls are always a family favorite!

We had a meatball stew with mashed potatoes. I kind of make it up as I went along, but it was so good we’ll be eating it again! Meatballs in a yummy gravy with veggies…mmmmm….I made lots thinking we’d have it two nights in a row, but there were no leftovers!

Isn’t it fun to surprise someone on their birthday? My husband and I decided to surprise his mom for her 60th birthday by given her a weekend with just him. She hasn’t been able to spend time with just him since before he joined the military (23 years ago!). We managed to keep it secret, and I even called ahead of time to ask her when she’d be home because he wanted to call and didn’t want to miss her-we got her good too! He showed up at her house (150 miles away!) and she was SO surprised! They went out for Chinese, went to a movie, rented one to watch at the house…just hung out together. She said it was the best birthday ever!